Gillian Polack's Blog, page 62
June 24, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-06-25T01:39:00
I'm behind on most things today. Everything is so very, very slow. This is partly because of weather, partly because of the computer meltdown, but mostly because I've done the last four of my modules and all but one of my reflective pieces for my higher ed teaching certificate thingie. From one a week to four in two days - that's quite a lot.
I shall do my last reflective piece, for that will mean I'm finished. I shall have a new piece of paper to rove I can learn things and a great deal more connected understanding of things I thought I knew. I'm not alone in this - all the senior lecturers have also been saying "This is connecting things for me." Sometimes it's tough on the postgrads, for they haven't got the same background. This certificate gave us the theory to underpin years of practice, basically, and the more years we have under our belt, the more sense it makes. There's a bunch of good in it for novice,s but they miss stuff, I suspect. And just doing it has made me more confident about my teaching. There's a whole heap of stuff I can improve, but there's also a bunch of stuff I've been doing right, the whole time.
And tomorrow I shall sort paper and discover a number of things I had to do and just couldn't fit into my two days. I know they're there, lurking. It can't be helped. I worked for all but five hours last night (four hours was sleep) trying to sort the email disaster. 4000 extra emails in a short period of time demonstrated just how vulnerable things can be - I've created an interim solution, but need to solidly work through a bunch of things very carefully to make one that will last for more than a few days.
Tonight, though, I'm singing off. I have this wild and unexpected desire to sleep.
I shall do my last reflective piece, for that will mean I'm finished. I shall have a new piece of paper to rove I can learn things and a great deal more connected understanding of things I thought I knew. I'm not alone in this - all the senior lecturers have also been saying "This is connecting things for me." Sometimes it's tough on the postgrads, for they haven't got the same background. This certificate gave us the theory to underpin years of practice, basically, and the more years we have under our belt, the more sense it makes. There's a bunch of good in it for novice,s but they miss stuff, I suspect. And just doing it has made me more confident about my teaching. There's a whole heap of stuff I can improve, but there's also a bunch of stuff I've been doing right, the whole time.
And tomorrow I shall sort paper and discover a number of things I had to do and just couldn't fit into my two days. I know they're there, lurking. It can't be helped. I worked for all but five hours last night (four hours was sleep) trying to sort the email disaster. 4000 extra emails in a short period of time demonstrated just how vulnerable things can be - I've created an interim solution, but need to solidly work through a bunch of things very carefully to make one that will last for more than a few days.
Tonight, though, I'm singing off. I have this wild and unexpected desire to sleep.
June 23, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-06-24T11:34:00
My computer had a little meltdown because Microsoft decided to upgrade my system (to a whole new version) without warning or anything. A friend mostly sorted it, but I now have all the teething problems of a new system when really, I'd rather get on with the much-work I was in the middle of.
Only 2 more modules and my last 3 reflections and I'm finished this certificate. I'm really pleased I decided to do it. So many changes to how one approaches teaching since my Grad Dip, and this course has been quite specifically targeted at teaching undergrads, so my catty knowledge is now more corporate and useful in form. When I get bored in class (which is seldom, for it's interesting material) I redesign my little project on teaching worldbuilding for writers. I think I have it all sorted now, and I know why my test wasn't working. My next step with it is to work out the relationship between it and story space, so that I can fit theory into the course without overwhelming it.
I've also spent much time on GUFF matters and they are underway. Mostly I'm waiting for replies and suggestions from various people and cannot progress. Mostly. For the rest of it, I push ahead, slowly. I'm confirmed for Loncon (which you already knew), Shamrokon and British Fantasy and almost confirmed for a Croatian convention. I'll see everyone else in between, en route, where i can, except for those Finnish fans who supported me so very wonderfully in the lead up to the vote count - they get a special visit. Pity the Finns! When my itinerary is firm, I'll put it up here, but under a flock.
When I've sorted out which SIM to get for the whole trip and how to actually buy it ahead of time, I shall have a phone number. And now my brain is spilling over with the things that must be done. And I only have a few minutes before class. Let me see what I can accomplish in those few minutes.
Only 2 more modules and my last 3 reflections and I'm finished this certificate. I'm really pleased I decided to do it. So many changes to how one approaches teaching since my Grad Dip, and this course has been quite specifically targeted at teaching undergrads, so my catty knowledge is now more corporate and useful in form. When I get bored in class (which is seldom, for it's interesting material) I redesign my little project on teaching worldbuilding for writers. I think I have it all sorted now, and I know why my test wasn't working. My next step with it is to work out the relationship between it and story space, so that I can fit theory into the course without overwhelming it.
I've also spent much time on GUFF matters and they are underway. Mostly I'm waiting for replies and suggestions from various people and cannot progress. Mostly. For the rest of it, I push ahead, slowly. I'm confirmed for Loncon (which you already knew), Shamrokon and British Fantasy and almost confirmed for a Croatian convention. I'll see everyone else in between, en route, where i can, except for those Finnish fans who supported me so very wonderfully in the lead up to the vote count - they get a special visit. Pity the Finns! When my itinerary is firm, I'll put it up here, but under a flock.
When I've sorted out which SIM to get for the whole trip and how to actually buy it ahead of time, I shall have a phone number. And now my brain is spilling over with the things that must be done. And I only have a few minutes before class. Let me see what I can accomplish in those few minutes.
June 21, 2014
On writers and their learning
I noticed this while doing my big project on writers and history and while teaching innumerable writers locally and interstate:
1. Writers who are consistently successful in the long term at placing books of varying kinds (who don't write the same book 20 times over) are very good learners. Some of the best learners I've seen anywhere, in fact. This comes from my research, but I won't be talking about it in my studies because it's a by-product and because the numbers are too small for vast generalisations from it. I've amplified the numbers through many, many discussions with writers, but that's not good for research papers, just for personal understanding. I'm pretty sure that I know that the Valerie Parvs of this world are outstanding learners - but I haven't demonstrated it and would need a new study to do so and I have other work to do, so this new study is unlikely. I can demonstrate that the Chaz Brenchleys and Elizabeth Chadwicks are outstanding learners, if anyone wants to sit down with me and go through data, but their numbers in relation to my data are insufficient for extrapolation.
2. Many newbie writers are very good learners. They have this sense of what they want to do, and are willing to work very hard to understand how to get there. This comes from nearly 20 years of teaching newbie writers in various fora.
3. Many newbie writers cease to be good learners the moment they have their second book (sometimes even their first book) published. A few cease to be good learners in about 3rd year of their creative writing university studies. My current theory on the latter is that they cease to understand how learning relates to writing and - through their peers or maybe some of their educators - see writing fiction as privilege and an ego-thing, and lose the sense of discovery. I do not tend to see these writers in my classes, BTW, but at conventions and socially. They often seem to select a lifestyle where their lack of interest in learning won't be challenged or where a mild interest in learning will be treated as a thing of awe.
Number 1 is wonderful, number 3 is awful. But if the same writers are great at learning and then stop being so, then it's theoretically possible to enable more steady-state careers (insofar as there are steady-state careers) in this industry and more consistently good writing from hobby writers. So much focus is on whether writers and publishers can spot the new black or the next sparkly vampire or child wizard, but there's only one novel in the new, whether it be the new writer or the shiny idea. There are many, many novels possible from a writer with skills whose skills continue to grow.
This is not everything. It's not even close to everything. It's me pulling together my teaching and consultation and social experience with one of the more interesting side-results of my research.
What gets me about it is how obvious it looks the moment I say it. Half a dozen of you who read my blog regularly are both good learners (even outstanding learners) and publish regularly despite market vagaries. And I've been telling schoolkids for years that their best path into becoming a good writer of fiction is to learn as much as they can and to develop good learning habits and to make sure they have a second career to earn them regular income (parents love me for this, but I don't say it to make parents love me) so I've 'known' this for a while and not expressed it in these terms.
There must be studies on this. it's too obvious for there not to be. Also, I may have well encountered them and forgotten. Can anyone point me in their direction?
I'm finishing my higher ed in-house certificate (to balance my grad dip in adult ed) next week and so my focus is on teaching and learning issues for a few days. This is a big one, and I wouldn't mind sorting it out a bit and improving the way I teach writers. It will also help when I teach the teachers who teach young writers, which happens in some of my classes.
1. Writers who are consistently successful in the long term at placing books of varying kinds (who don't write the same book 20 times over) are very good learners. Some of the best learners I've seen anywhere, in fact. This comes from my research, but I won't be talking about it in my studies because it's a by-product and because the numbers are too small for vast generalisations from it. I've amplified the numbers through many, many discussions with writers, but that's not good for research papers, just for personal understanding. I'm pretty sure that I know that the Valerie Parvs of this world are outstanding learners - but I haven't demonstrated it and would need a new study to do so and I have other work to do, so this new study is unlikely. I can demonstrate that the Chaz Brenchleys and Elizabeth Chadwicks are outstanding learners, if anyone wants to sit down with me and go through data, but their numbers in relation to my data are insufficient for extrapolation.
2. Many newbie writers are very good learners. They have this sense of what they want to do, and are willing to work very hard to understand how to get there. This comes from nearly 20 years of teaching newbie writers in various fora.
3. Many newbie writers cease to be good learners the moment they have their second book (sometimes even their first book) published. A few cease to be good learners in about 3rd year of their creative writing university studies. My current theory on the latter is that they cease to understand how learning relates to writing and - through their peers or maybe some of their educators - see writing fiction as privilege and an ego-thing, and lose the sense of discovery. I do not tend to see these writers in my classes, BTW, but at conventions and socially. They often seem to select a lifestyle where their lack of interest in learning won't be challenged or where a mild interest in learning will be treated as a thing of awe.
Number 1 is wonderful, number 3 is awful. But if the same writers are great at learning and then stop being so, then it's theoretically possible to enable more steady-state careers (insofar as there are steady-state careers) in this industry and more consistently good writing from hobby writers. So much focus is on whether writers and publishers can spot the new black or the next sparkly vampire or child wizard, but there's only one novel in the new, whether it be the new writer or the shiny idea. There are many, many novels possible from a writer with skills whose skills continue to grow.
This is not everything. It's not even close to everything. It's me pulling together my teaching and consultation and social experience with one of the more interesting side-results of my research.
What gets me about it is how obvious it looks the moment I say it. Half a dozen of you who read my blog regularly are both good learners (even outstanding learners) and publish regularly despite market vagaries. And I've been telling schoolkids for years that their best path into becoming a good writer of fiction is to learn as much as they can and to develop good learning habits and to make sure they have a second career to earn them regular income (parents love me for this, but I don't say it to make parents love me) so I've 'known' this for a while and not expressed it in these terms.
There must be studies on this. it's too obvious for there not to be. Also, I may have well encountered them and forgotten. Can anyone point me in their direction?
I'm finishing my higher ed in-house certificate (to balance my grad dip in adult ed) next week and so my focus is on teaching and learning issues for a few days. This is a big one, and I wouldn't mind sorting it out a bit and improving the way I teach writers. It will also help when I teach the teachers who teach young writers, which happens in some of my classes.
gillpolack @ 2014-06-22T11:47:00
I just updated my London list to reflect the suggestions of friends in the comments and suddenly realised that it would be a lot of fun to edit a London anthology that had all those elements and also had a bit of commentary on their historico-cultural implications. It would be so very, very much fun. A bit like that lovely science meets SF anthology that came out a few years ago, where a writer writes and an academic academicises*.
There is no other news, except that it's a dormouse day. If I had a teapot, I would be curled up in it and fast asleep.
A cup of coffee is my doom, and another book, for I am not a dormouse.
*This is now a word. As of two minutes ago.
There is no other news, except that it's a dormouse day. If I had a teapot, I would be curled up in it and fast asleep.
A cup of coffee is my doom, and another book, for I am not a dormouse.
*This is now a word. As of two minutes ago.
gillpolack @ 2014-06-21T17:01:00
I started Saturday too early, with too little sleep and too much cold. I had a good morning, despite going to the market when it was -2.4 degrees outside. Even the farmers were shivering.
I had persimmons for the week, but they protect me against cold and this is the last of the season and they're mostly inside me. I still have chestnuts for the week, and a cabbage, and some heritage carrots (a yellow variety that bakes extraordinarily well), and much, much salad veg and a tiny tiny sliver of truffle, which I am going to bake with egg and butter. For as persimmons go out, truffles come in. I can't normally afford truffles, but this was enough for about four hot lunches and cost $5, and was local and as fresh as I've ever seen and I had finished my shopping and there was $5 left and...
Then I found $7 more and bought a big bag of meaty Belted Galloway bones and they are busy turning themselves into portable soup as I type. I wanted to experiment with spicing, you see. Also with clarifying without the assistance of cloth.
I've read two books since I came home and made a start on the many emails I have to send this weekend. What I've also done (for the books prompted me, is start on a little mental list of the different ways spec fic novels depict London. I give this to you, for your Saturday afternoon entertainment. Also, maybe, if anyone feels inclined, for discussion or addition or emendation or footnoting. It is not a considered list - it's just me having fun with my reading.
1. Wallpaper London - a pretty backdrop with St Paul's or London Bridge but no other identifying details at all. No matter what the characters do or where the plot winds, the city stays the same. Except that maybe, if you're lucky, it rains.
2. London from the US view, which is often (but not always) different to ...
3. London from the other colonies (sorry US friends, but some of the US was once a set of English colonies, so I use the word 'other' and offend everyone, in the spirit of egalitarian rudeness), both of which are different to ...
4. Steampunk London, which ranges from the Griffin London (make sure you have the right Griffin) to the type of London you see in novels by Michael Pryor and Richard Harland.
5. The London of a particular character, so sharp that it cuts and so real that you can taste the air they breathe and draw their favourite haunts on a map. Paul McAuley's London, for instance, is always thus.
6. London of the tunnels and waterways.
7. Gothic London, where everything has a Jack the Ripper echo, or belongs in The Fourth Doctor's Talons of Weng-Chiang.
8. "I need an anodyne setting, so I shall call this city London because everyone knows London."
9. Magic London, definitely including Mike Shevdon and Neil Gaiman. A sub-section of Magic London is Elizabethan Magic London (am I thinking of Sarah Hoyt?).
10. Historical London. Dan Abnett's Triumff is a sparkling example of this, but so is Pratchett's Ankh Morpork. Mostly nineteenth century (but not steampunk) or late eighteenth century (for the clothes, obviously) or Elizabethan. There is a point being made about place and time.
11. False Dickensian London, like some of the steampunk Londons, but with added misery. The focus is on the misery, not the place and time. I cannot think of an example solely because I do not want to.
12. False Heyer London, which people seem to be calling 'Regency.' Would Carriger's work fit in this? It's not in the right period (it's Victorian) but it certainly has the right atmosphere.
13. Boarding school London. The variety most likely to include both romance and vampires. But not always. Sometimes it's about orphans and isolation and magical coming-of-age. If you're really lucky, it has orphans, isolation, magical-coming-of-age, a boarding school and romance and vampires. Except I can't think of examples. This is because my brain is fried and has nothing to do with vampires and boarding schools and orphans. Not Sarah Rees Brennan - her London is 5 or 9 or both.
14. Time travel London, which is all about the portal, so I should really call it 'portal London'. There were bunches of these round some years ago, and too many of them featured curiosity shops in narrow streets and the shops and sometimes the streets came and went entirely unreasonably. I wanted to write about a shop exactly like that, but I somehow avoided it.
15. Suspense London, where, if the writer isn't careful, everything comes out feeling like James Bond, but with magic or futuretech. When this is done well, it's breathtaking. When it's done badly it's also breathtaking, but for entirely the wrong reasons.
16. London Noir
17. London with added Gherkins and Shards - futuristic SF. This can overlap heavily with 15.
18. London at the moment of the apocalypse. Possibly with added triffids. The cocktail on the cusp of disaster.
19. London after the apocalypse. Lots of rubble. The alternate to this is a form of magic or spec fic London that includes the Blitz - this is seldom the Blitz and is more often Averting the End of Everything Post Apocalyse - this is where I admit that my views on all of this are idiosyncratic and relate to my mood today, which is vagrant and listing.
20. London created entirely from vague recollections of novels set in London. All summed up for me in the final episodes of ROD - the TV.
21. Medieval London, which may or may not be Medieval and may or may not be London. Merlin will generally make an appearance, and dragons there be, on occasion.
This is not the complete list. My mind is tangled, though, so I shall stop.
For those who haven't noticed yet, this weekend is all about London. Even my reading is all about London.
Happy solstice, those who celebrate! I shall have another persimmon in your honour before I return to thinking and reading about London.
I had persimmons for the week, but they protect me against cold and this is the last of the season and they're mostly inside me. I still have chestnuts for the week, and a cabbage, and some heritage carrots (a yellow variety that bakes extraordinarily well), and much, much salad veg and a tiny tiny sliver of truffle, which I am going to bake with egg and butter. For as persimmons go out, truffles come in. I can't normally afford truffles, but this was enough for about four hot lunches and cost $5, and was local and as fresh as I've ever seen and I had finished my shopping and there was $5 left and...
Then I found $7 more and bought a big bag of meaty Belted Galloway bones and they are busy turning themselves into portable soup as I type. I wanted to experiment with spicing, you see. Also with clarifying without the assistance of cloth.
I've read two books since I came home and made a start on the many emails I have to send this weekend. What I've also done (for the books prompted me, is start on a little mental list of the different ways spec fic novels depict London. I give this to you, for your Saturday afternoon entertainment. Also, maybe, if anyone feels inclined, for discussion or addition or emendation or footnoting. It is not a considered list - it's just me having fun with my reading.
1. Wallpaper London - a pretty backdrop with St Paul's or London Bridge but no other identifying details at all. No matter what the characters do or where the plot winds, the city stays the same. Except that maybe, if you're lucky, it rains.
2. London from the US view, which is often (but not always) different to ...
3. London from the other colonies (sorry US friends, but some of the US was once a set of English colonies, so I use the word 'other' and offend everyone, in the spirit of egalitarian rudeness), both of which are different to ...
4. Steampunk London, which ranges from the Griffin London (make sure you have the right Griffin) to the type of London you see in novels by Michael Pryor and Richard Harland.
5. The London of a particular character, so sharp that it cuts and so real that you can taste the air they breathe and draw their favourite haunts on a map. Paul McAuley's London, for instance, is always thus.
6. London of the tunnels and waterways.
7. Gothic London, where everything has a Jack the Ripper echo, or belongs in The Fourth Doctor's Talons of Weng-Chiang.
8. "I need an anodyne setting, so I shall call this city London because everyone knows London."
9. Magic London, definitely including Mike Shevdon and Neil Gaiman. A sub-section of Magic London is Elizabethan Magic London (am I thinking of Sarah Hoyt?).
10. Historical London. Dan Abnett's Triumff is a sparkling example of this, but so is Pratchett's Ankh Morpork. Mostly nineteenth century (but not steampunk) or late eighteenth century (for the clothes, obviously) or Elizabethan. There is a point being made about place and time.
11. False Dickensian London, like some of the steampunk Londons, but with added misery. The focus is on the misery, not the place and time. I cannot think of an example solely because I do not want to.
12. False Heyer London, which people seem to be calling 'Regency.' Would Carriger's work fit in this? It's not in the right period (it's Victorian) but it certainly has the right atmosphere.
13. Boarding school London. The variety most likely to include both romance and vampires. But not always. Sometimes it's about orphans and isolation and magical coming-of-age. If you're really lucky, it has orphans, isolation, magical-coming-of-age, a boarding school and romance and vampires. Except I can't think of examples. This is because my brain is fried and has nothing to do with vampires and boarding schools and orphans. Not Sarah Rees Brennan - her London is 5 or 9 or both.
14. Time travel London, which is all about the portal, so I should really call it 'portal London'. There were bunches of these round some years ago, and too many of them featured curiosity shops in narrow streets and the shops and sometimes the streets came and went entirely unreasonably. I wanted to write about a shop exactly like that, but I somehow avoided it.
15. Suspense London, where, if the writer isn't careful, everything comes out feeling like James Bond, but with magic or futuretech. When this is done well, it's breathtaking. When it's done badly it's also breathtaking, but for entirely the wrong reasons.
16. London Noir
17. London with added Gherkins and Shards - futuristic SF. This can overlap heavily with 15.
18. London at the moment of the apocalypse. Possibly with added triffids. The cocktail on the cusp of disaster.
19. London after the apocalypse. Lots of rubble. The alternate to this is a form of magic or spec fic London that includes the Blitz - this is seldom the Blitz and is more often Averting the End of Everything Post Apocalyse - this is where I admit that my views on all of this are idiosyncratic and relate to my mood today, which is vagrant and listing.
20. London created entirely from vague recollections of novels set in London. All summed up for me in the final episodes of ROD - the TV.
21. Medieval London, which may or may not be Medieval and may or may not be London. Merlin will generally make an appearance, and dragons there be, on occasion.
This is not the complete list. My mind is tangled, though, so I shall stop.
For those who haven't noticed yet, this weekend is all about London. Even my reading is all about London.
Happy solstice, those who celebrate! I shall have another persimmon in your honour before I return to thinking and reading about London.
June 19, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-06-20T16:30:00
My time teaching SF short stories is almost at an end. Only two weeks to go. Today I combined TS Eliot with Phillip K Dick and I have decided to call the combination "The Hollow Wub." They went very well together, too.
No more teaching til Wednesday. I have finished 10 of the massive pile I borrowed from the library and only have 13 to go (for the massive pile grew a little today). Since I'm determined this won't interfere with everything else, I shall be doing much reading for a very short time. It's good, because it gets my mind back into gear, and my mind needs to be in gear because the end of June and all of July is really about editing and fixing stuff - at this moment, there is no new writing (except for fan writing) in between now and Loncon.
In small but exciting news, the final bits of the insurance stuff from the burglary (I know, it was a long time ago) are within sight. It may all be over, one day. I shall be very relieved!
No more teaching til Wednesday. I have finished 10 of the massive pile I borrowed from the library and only have 13 to go (for the massive pile grew a little today). Since I'm determined this won't interfere with everything else, I shall be doing much reading for a very short time. It's good, because it gets my mind back into gear, and my mind needs to be in gear because the end of June and all of July is really about editing and fixing stuff - at this moment, there is no new writing (except for fan writing) in between now and Loncon.
In small but exciting news, the final bits of the insurance stuff from the burglary (I know, it was a long time ago) are within sight. It may all be over, one day. I shall be very relieved!
gillpolack @ 2014-06-19T18:22:00
Today I had a pleasant 15 or so minutes by the ANU creek, doing what a photographer told me. If there are results,* I will let you know. He kept on telling me how patient I was, but I wasn't patient at all, I was watching the willows, and seeing the sunshine, and admiring the ducks. There was so many interesting angles and the trees had attitudes and all I had to do was walk when I was told to walk and smile at the way the wind swept through the willows.
The rest of my day is reading and sorting things and stuff. Much stuff. Mostly, though, I want to finish with all my library books so that I can get into finishing everything I want to finish in plenty of time. I also want this cold to leave me...
*There will be results.
The rest of my day is reading and sorting things and stuff. Much stuff. Mostly, though, I want to finish with all my library books so that I can get into finishing everything I want to finish in plenty of time. I also want this cold to leave me...
*There will be results.
June 18, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-06-18T22:50:00
Today I have been emulating the Red Queen. One day it will feel like progress. Right now, though, I'm about to take the rest of the evening off and just drift for a bit. I want to work, but my brain won't let me.
June 16, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-06-17T16:38:00
Today I'm taking half-off. I went out just after lunch, to see a movie (
silvanime
gave me a gift voucher for movies for my birthday, which I am using solely to see superhero movies with her - it's a lot of fun, and means I get to see her) and I have about a half hour before I visit some friends.
I needed this. When I'm at home, I do things. There are always things that must be done, and it's going to get more so. So much to read, so much to write, so many emails to answer, so many people to tell about this or that in order to have things happen.
I've already taken committee-Gillian out of storage and dusted her off. This will be a committee of one (with occasional ring-ins) but I need to process manage if I'm to enjoy the next three months. When so much is happening already and then it all explodes into glorious technicolour, then winging it is not going to work. Also, I'm Gillian, so extra things are going to be added to the trip and to the workload, for that is what happens in Gillian's life. The extra thing this morning was an email to someone about ancestral stuff. The extra things last night were working out that Mary and I *will* get to the Globe to see King Lear (they ran out of tickets last time, and I so wanted to see Dr Faustus and go to the Globe) and half-setting up and interview (rest is all done and interview and etc will take place on Thursday, which will, as a happy by-product, give me the new picture of myself Loncon needs, and the photographer is happy to let it be used for that, with due acknowledgement, so that's LOTS of things done). And...
This is beginning to sound confusing. This is why, tomorrow afternoon, I take down the thinking for my 17th century novel (either that, or move it to another door, for doors are my chief planning-assistants) and start building one for Loncon.
In the interstices of movies and friends and emails, I plan to read. I went to the library to pick things up, and discovered 20 books waiting for me. I've finished one and 2 halves already. One half is short stories by Karin Tidbeck and the other is Meg Rosoff - I don't need to read the Rosoff and I don't have time to read it, but if there's a book by her I haven't read and it comes my way, it tends to displace other reading. I intend to return four books (in my dream world, five) tomorrow, for it's a bit greedy to have twenty books out from the library, and some of them are purely recreational (Rosoff!) and today is a mostly-recreational day. Also, I won't have that long to read the rest, for any day now, the first books for Aurealis will magically appear. I suspect I'll finish the books by tomorrow week. We'll see.
My useful-thought-of-the-moment is that anyone who puts "International Bestseller" on the cover of a novel, in big letters, is not doing the novel any favours. And now, I need a big cup of tea and the end of a Rosoff.
silvanime
gave me a gift voucher for movies for my birthday, which I am using solely to see superhero movies with her - it's a lot of fun, and means I get to see her) and I have about a half hour before I visit some friends.I needed this. When I'm at home, I do things. There are always things that must be done, and it's going to get more so. So much to read, so much to write, so many emails to answer, so many people to tell about this or that in order to have things happen.
I've already taken committee-Gillian out of storage and dusted her off. This will be a committee of one (with occasional ring-ins) but I need to process manage if I'm to enjoy the next three months. When so much is happening already and then it all explodes into glorious technicolour, then winging it is not going to work. Also, I'm Gillian, so extra things are going to be added to the trip and to the workload, for that is what happens in Gillian's life. The extra thing this morning was an email to someone about ancestral stuff. The extra things last night were working out that Mary and I *will* get to the Globe to see King Lear (they ran out of tickets last time, and I so wanted to see Dr Faustus and go to the Globe) and half-setting up and interview (rest is all done and interview and etc will take place on Thursday, which will, as a happy by-product, give me the new picture of myself Loncon needs, and the photographer is happy to let it be used for that, with due acknowledgement, so that's LOTS of things done). And...
This is beginning to sound confusing. This is why, tomorrow afternoon, I take down the thinking for my 17th century novel (either that, or move it to another door, for doors are my chief planning-assistants) and start building one for Loncon.
In the interstices of movies and friends and emails, I plan to read. I went to the library to pick things up, and discovered 20 books waiting for me. I've finished one and 2 halves already. One half is short stories by Karin Tidbeck and the other is Meg Rosoff - I don't need to read the Rosoff and I don't have time to read it, but if there's a book by her I haven't read and it comes my way, it tends to displace other reading. I intend to return four books (in my dream world, five) tomorrow, for it's a bit greedy to have twenty books out from the library, and some of them are purely recreational (Rosoff!) and today is a mostly-recreational day. Also, I won't have that long to read the rest, for any day now, the first books for Aurealis will magically appear. I suspect I'll finish the books by tomorrow week. We'll see.
My useful-thought-of-the-moment is that anyone who puts "International Bestseller" on the cover of a novel, in big letters, is not doing the novel any favours. And now, I need a big cup of tea and the end of a Rosoff.
June 15, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-06-16T14:29:00
I've started again on my academic paper for Loncon.
I never really stopped, in a way, for Ambelin Kwaymullina and I had a long chat about it at Continuum. I've been thinking about what she said, and what I already knew, and how I'm going to let people know that I am merely a bridge. I realised that I can actually carry all the introductory papers, especially ones by Terri Janke, for they are freely available and cover so much of the basic ground that one cannot cover in a scholarly paper, but which everyone there will need access to, for this stuff is not very widely known - alas- even within Australia, as I discovered the other week at a CSFG meeting. What this will mean is that anyone who needs to start at the very beginning (and wishes to, after listening to me) can simply copy that folder and have the protocols and background at their fingertips. These papers are all by ATSI experts in ATSI cultural matters, so it will reinforce the argument I'm making.
I've downloaded all the most important publicly-available papers, and just have to give them their own folder, and that bit is done. No doubt I will add to the folder, because Ambelin is about to put out a new paper that refers to more recent work, but if I can't do anything more, at least this folder is ready.
Anything that isn't publicly freely available (eg academic studies), will go in a bibliography, which I will also put in the folder.
I've also sorted a bunch of papers (the ones I meant to do last night) and extracted Old Bailey records for my 17th century novel, so that I can know exactly what was happening in the crime scene in London at the time. I don't know if I'm going to use it yet, but if I don't have it, I can't use it, and I saw something in there that possibly may be rather cool. In passing, I saw two potential ancestral-relatives of mine having lace stolen. One of the thieves was hanged, but the other wasn't convicted. The shop-owners (it was a milliner's) had the right kind of names in the right part of London at the right period. I need to check them out sometime.
And that is my work of the early afternoon finished, along with some bonus recreational reading. I need to make coffee and sit down and read a bunch of articles about the Middle Ages, next. Total mindset change. This is what stops me from getting bored, after all.
For those wondering, my Continuum notes have still not appeared: I haven't forgotten them.
I never really stopped, in a way, for Ambelin Kwaymullina and I had a long chat about it at Continuum. I've been thinking about what she said, and what I already knew, and how I'm going to let people know that I am merely a bridge. I realised that I can actually carry all the introductory papers, especially ones by Terri Janke, for they are freely available and cover so much of the basic ground that one cannot cover in a scholarly paper, but which everyone there will need access to, for this stuff is not very widely known - alas- even within Australia, as I discovered the other week at a CSFG meeting. What this will mean is that anyone who needs to start at the very beginning (and wishes to, after listening to me) can simply copy that folder and have the protocols and background at their fingertips. These papers are all by ATSI experts in ATSI cultural matters, so it will reinforce the argument I'm making.
I've downloaded all the most important publicly-available papers, and just have to give them their own folder, and that bit is done. No doubt I will add to the folder, because Ambelin is about to put out a new paper that refers to more recent work, but if I can't do anything more, at least this folder is ready.
Anything that isn't publicly freely available (eg academic studies), will go in a bibliography, which I will also put in the folder.
I've also sorted a bunch of papers (the ones I meant to do last night) and extracted Old Bailey records for my 17th century novel, so that I can know exactly what was happening in the crime scene in London at the time. I don't know if I'm going to use it yet, but if I don't have it, I can't use it, and I saw something in there that possibly may be rather cool. In passing, I saw two potential ancestral-relatives of mine having lace stolen. One of the thieves was hanged, but the other wasn't convicted. The shop-owners (it was a milliner's) had the right kind of names in the right part of London at the right period. I need to check them out sometime.
And that is my work of the early afternoon finished, along with some bonus recreational reading. I need to make coffee and sit down and read a bunch of articles about the Middle Ages, next. Total mindset change. This is what stops me from getting bored, after all.
For those wondering, my Continuum notes have still not appeared: I haven't forgotten them.
